Monday, September 26, 2011

Life with a Lawman

Um, no, that's not my guy in the picture, but mine does wear a law enforcement uniform. Some days I like the fact that he's a public servant, other days I don't. But I must tell you, life with a lawman is certainly different from say, life with a bookkeeper!

Now my guy is not your typical law enforcement officer. He used to be a member of an elite team of highly trained special response officers called the ERT or Emergency Response Team. ERT training involves things like sharp shooting, specialized defensive tactics and explosives training.

One day my man was promoted to a higher rank than they allow on the team (since high-ranking officers make perfect hostages). But he continues to train with the team. Why? Because he loves it. He comes home battered and bruised from playing with the big guys ten or twenty years younger than he, and the other guys always look worse!

Living with Mr. Tough Guy (as one of his friends calls him) has made for some unique experiences on the home front. Many of those have yielded great writerly info since I write romantic suspense sometimes. I'll share a few of the stranger than fiction things that happen around my house.

1. I've come home and walked right past a machine gun with a silencer on my kitchen table without blinking.

2. I've opened the dryer to check on that metallic clang only to find bullets or shell casings inside.

3. Speaking of laundry, I've had to decide if a ninja mask goes in the dryer on low or medium heat (because there was no little white tag inside).

4. I've tried to decide where to keep DH's kevlar gloves (Apparently with his winter clothes is wrong).

5. Ditto on the vest, the repelling harness and ropes, the chemical agents and specialized helmets.

Thankfully, I feel really, really safe with him around. He's also got a wealth of information when it comes to all I ever wanted to know about blocking out any kind of fight/take-down, etc. for my books. Besides all that, he's pretty great guy. So I can live with a few bullets in the dryer.

Ha! The first point would give me pause, I must admit. Actually, my only experience with that came when I met Miss Katie last fall. Hubby and I were kind of shocked speechless for a minute or two, lol. The only weapons we have in our house are my Civil War collection, which, as a Canadian, wins me the Most Quirky Person award up here.

You're so lucky to have a research source living right under your own roof! Glad you appreciate all he does, bullets in the dryer notwithstanding ;)